


Slipping Through My Fingers

by Super_Danvers



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: F/F, Happy Ending?, Wayhaught endgame, WynHaught - Freeform, characters are taken, lots of sadness, major character detahs, nicole haught - Freeform, slowburn, waverly in the garden, wynonna earp - Freeform, wynsita endgame
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-28
Updated: 2018-12-28
Packaged: 2019-09-01 21:38:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16773421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Super_Danvers/pseuds/Super_Danvers
Summary: When Waverly is taken into the garden, Nicole and Wynonna are distraught. If things can't get any worse, it seems all their friends have been taken by some mysterious stranger named 'Valdez'. Not only must they find a way to rescue their friends, but also a way to bring Waverly back. If she isn't dead already.





	1. Paper-Mâché Angel

Wynonna’s walk home from the woods was the longest walk she had done in her life. Having once managed to stumble twelve miles home with a broken toe, this was saying something. A walk without her baby sister by her side wasn’t a walk worth pursuing. A journey without the quiet presence of the tiny brunette, the over enthusiastic games that were endlessly played and the inevitable alcohol that was slowly added into the throw and not to mention the heavy sword in her jacket, felt like knives in Wynonna’s heart.

As her now scuffed boots reached the main road back to Purgatory, Wynonna stopped and looked to the sky. It was getting dark, cold, and storm clouds were rolling in. It almost earned a smirk from Wynonna, of course it would rain the day Waverly died. _No, not died,_ **taken.** Wynonna mentally punched herself: Waverly wasn’t dead. She hoped her sister was safe, in fact she prayed to God – if there was one – that her baby sister was alright. Hopefully, with someone like Doc in that garden, she’d be okay.

As if her day couldn’t get any worse, Wynonna’s heart dropped when she saw the familiar police cruiser trundling up the road towards her. She wasn’t the religious type but, in the moment, Wynonna prayed to whatever higher authority might be up there that it wasn’t Nicole driving towards her. As the little cruiser pulled closer, Wynonna cringed as she saw ‘Sheriff’ emblazoned on the side. Shit.

The car pulled to a halt, and the familiar, five foot nine, ginger giant stepped out, slamming the door shut behind her. Nicole Haught was still wearing her police uniform with the high visibility jacket over the top, her hair loose and breezing in the cold wind slightly. Seeing Wynonna’s hunched figure trying to tortoise itself inside her jacket, she quickly opened the cruiser again and pulled out two coats. One of them was Waverly’s.

Nicole handed Wynonna the other coat, an oversized police jacket, likely to be Nedley’s. Wynonna could smell his coffee as she wrapped it around her shoulders. She couldn’t quite meet Nicole’s eye as she noticed the redhead looking around for her girlfriend, the coat hanging empty on her arm.

“Hey, Red.” She mumbled, her lips feeling numb from the cold beginning to roll in. “Funny seeing you out here.”

“Where’s Waverly?” Nicole asked immediately, still looking around and squinting at the forest in the distance. Wynonna could sense the urgency in Nicole’s voice, the slight quiver in her speech that wasn’t from the cold. “Wynonna…where’s Waverly?”

Wynonna struggled to find the words. How did she tell her sister’s girlfriend and practically her bodyguard that her significant other had been dragged through a portal into some garden somewhere with god knows what inside it? And how was she going to mention that she had no idea how to get her out again, or if she was even alive? _She is alive, Wynonna. Waverly is alive, she kicked herself again._

“Uh…” Wynonna was lost for words, her eyes remaining trained on Nicole’s snow boots. She couldn’t bring herself to see anymore heartbreak today, or feel anything else either.

“ _Earp_ , where is she?”

Wynonna flinched. Nicole never used the last name unless she was verging on the edge of a total meltdown. Finally, with a time that felt like forever, Wynonna dragged her eyes upwards and met the cop’s.

“She’s gone.”

Nicole didn’t say a word, instead she just turned and began trudging her way through the snow banks towards the woods where Wynonna had just come from. Her stride was so large and forceful that Wynonna had to run just to match pace.

“Nicole, you can’t, Nicole can you just-“ Wynonna reached out and tried to pull Nicole back by the back of her high vis jacket but it wasn’t about to stop the redhead. Instead, the jacket came away in her hand and only faltered Nicole’s steps for a moment. “Nicole, stop – can you just stop a minute? _Haught!_ ”

As Nicole got through the last of the snow bank, she fell to her knees and the scream that escaped her throat was more unholy than the revenants themselves. Still, the cop tried to keep going, even though now her leg was bleeding and her trousers were ripped. Wynonna crouched down beside her, wrapping her arms tightly around Nicole’s. The redhead sobbed, a forlorn cry that felt like it would never end. Nicole Haught never cried. Wynonna had never seen her cry anyway, and now that she was, she hoped she never would again. Nicole still pulled at Wynonna’s grip, trying to get to the woods.

“Get…off…of me!” She protested, pining to be near Waverly.

Nicole was not a clingy person, but Waverly was different. It was their pact, their promise, to be near each other. Wherever one went, the other followed. And now Waverly was gone, Nicole had to follow to wherever that may be. Tears streamed down the woman’s face, her eyes focused only on the distance and quickly fading light.

“Haught, stop it. Stop struggling, _please_.” Wynonna pleaded, beginning to feel the chill reaching her bones. “We can’t save her, not yet.”

But Nicole wasn’t listening. In her continued struggle, Nicole managed to get an arm free and in her flailing desperation to get the other loose, her elbow connected with Wynonna’s nose. The brunette fell back, clutching her nose as she felt the chill and blood rush to it. She hissed through her teeth as her hand came away with blood.

“Fuck…” She breathed, tilting her head back. “Ow.”

Nicole was still trying to drag herself upwards but the blood from her leg was making an even more steady flow than Wynonna’s nose. Another mournful cry escaped Nicole before she gave up completely, letting herself fall to the ground. The redhead curled up into a foetal position. She hadn’t even realised the large gash in her calf that was bleeding onto the ground. Wynonna wiped as much of the blood away as she could on her sleeve before sitting up a little.

Catching her breath, Wynonna rested one arm on her knee and used the other to reach out to Nicole’s shoulder, shaking it gently. “Look, Haught-“

 _“Get off me.”_ Nicole spat, sitting up again.

Wynonna ignored the snap. “Come on, let’s go back to the homestead and get cleaned up. Look at yourself.”

The glare that Nicole fixed her with was dark and icy, colder and crueller than the storm forming above their heads. “How can you leave her out here? She’ll be cold.” She snarled, holding up Waverly’s coat.

Wynonna squeezed Nicole’s shoulder. “She’s safe. Gone, but safe. She’s alright, she’s okay. Waverly’s okay.”

The fiery anger was still evident in Nicole’s dark eyes, but Wynonna felt all of it exhale as she took a few breathes. Wynonna’s laugh was only slightly shaky but she gasped another breath as the pain of her nose set in.

Nicole’s eyes widened as she wiped tears from her cheeks. “Oh god I’m sorry.” She rushed, clapping her hand over Wynonna’s nose.

“Fuck me, careful!” Wynonna squeaked as Nicole nearly knocked her over again. “Don’t worry about it, we need to clean your leg up anyway. _Then_ we can talk.”

Nicole nodded, helping Wynonna to her feet even though her own leg felt like it was on fire. The redhead put her weight on the brunette as they limped back to the car. Nicole tossed Wynonna the keys.

+++

The ride back to the homestead was silent, their shared humour and apologies dying away quickly and replaced with mourning guilt. Every so often, Wynonna would glance to her friend, who only stared out at Canada’s snowy landscape with a distant look in her eyes. As if her heart couldn’t break anymore, it wrenched to see Nicole pining for Waverly. The way she held Waverly’s coat in her lap, holding it so tightly that her knuckles turned as white as the snow. To be fair, Wynonna’s knuckles looked very much the same underneath the bloodied scrapes covering them. Peacemaker, now in the form of a sword, had been thrown carelessly into the back seat. Wynonna didn’t care about it anymore, she only wanted Waverly back. 

When they finally got back to the homestead, the snow was falling so heavily that Wynonna could barely see the house in front of her. With Peacemaker in one hand and Nicole leaning on her shoulder, the pair limped into the homestead. Jeremy, who had been waiting for them, was stood at the bottom of the stairs as they came through the door. With only a solemn nod, Wynonna let him take Nicole off her shoulder and lead her into the kitchen.

The redhead let out a gasp as she was plonked into a chair at the kitchen table but she didn’t say anything, only waved a dismissive hand when Jeremy apologized. Wynonna retrieved the first aid kit and put it on the table, getting out the bandages to address Nicole’s leg.

“I killed Bulshar.” She commented as she cut Nicole’s khaki pants off her leg, ignoring the dried blood on her face. “The curse is ended.”

“Do you want a medal?” Nicole replied icily, glaring at her now ruined trousers. Replacements in a thirty-two leg at the police department was going to be hard to find.

Wynonna didn’t flinch, but let out a short sigh. “That’d be nice.” She muttered.

“Do you want me to wash your….uh..nose?” Jeremy asked, walking over with drinks and a small bucket of water for Nicole’s leg.

“In a minute.” Wynonna replied, taking a tissue from the first aid kit and dipping it into the bucket of water. “This is gonna hurt.”

Nicole let out a hiss as Wynonna collided the wet tissue with the cut on her leg, but still didn’t say anything. Jeremy, meanwhile, leaned up against the table.

“What happened?” He asked, folding his arms, gesturing to Nicole’s leg and Wynonna’s nose. “What happened with Bulshar? Where’s Waverly?”

“Cool it with the questions, Brainiac Five.” Wynonna replied, dabbing around Nicole’s wound.

“Waverly’s gone.” Nicole stated, her voice monotone and void of emotion.

“I’m flattered you made a Brainy reference, but what do you mean gone? Is she….” Jeremy halted a moment. “Is…is she-“

“ _She’s not dead_.” Wynonna finished for him, forcefully, as if she was trying to convince herself. “She’s fine, Doc is with her.”

“What? Doc’s with her?”

“They’re in the garden—”

“The garden of Eden, the inscription on the inside of the ring.” Jeremy interrupted again. “That garden?”

“We think so.” Wynonna replied, putting the blood-stained tissues down and getting out the bandages.

“With Doc?”

“Is there a fucking echo in here? Jesus Christ!” Nicole snapped. There were a few moments of silence, with Jeremy and Wynonna exchanging sheepish glances to one another. Once the anger had died away, Nicole sighed and spoke again. “Sorry.”

Jeremy squeezed his friend’s shoulder. “Don’t apologise. It’s been a stressful day for all of us.”

He was right, by an understatement. The day had been crazy, even in the Earp family. Bobo was dead, Charlie turned out to be Julian then was killed, the curse had been ended, Bulshar was dead and now Doc and Waverly were gone. Wynonna couldn’t even comprehend all the death that now surrounded her, not to mention that even though the revenants were all gone, she still considered some of them to be friends. Despite Rosita’s betrayal, Wynonna had still found her presence enjoyable. To think she was now dead, hurt her just as much as Doll’s passing.

Out of all the madness, those were the two she wished was with her now.

“I could use some sleep.” Nicole murmured as Wynonna finished wrapping the bandage around her leg. “And new pants.”

“I’m sure there’s some spare….in Waverly’s room.” Wynonna replied quietly, standing up and turning away to the window, she didn’t even look at Nicole.

Nicole glared at Wynonna’s back for a few seconds before lifting herself out of the chair and limping, without assistance, towards the stairs. There were the sounds of footsteps creaking up the floorboards, a door shutting, and then silence.

“Wynonna?” Jeremy implored carefully.

“She blames me.”

“Her girlfriend got taken into a garden with god knows what in it, you can’t expect her to be totally fine.” He pointed out.

“You think I don’t know that?” Wynonna said sharply, her eyes still fixed out the window to the hill behind the homestead. The snow would be halfway up Doll’s headstone by now.

“Of course not.” Jeremy said slowly, trying to show he wasn’t attacking her. “Just give her time. Until then we can figure out how to get Waverly and Doc back.”

Wynonna didn’t reply. Jeremy sighed, getting his coat. When he’d pulled it on, buttoned it up, and finally reached the doorway. “I’ll come see you tomorrow. Make sure you get that nose cleaned up.”

He left with a tear trickling down Wynonna’s eye.

+

Wynonna didn’t go to bed until midnight. Nicole knew because in the darkness of Waverly’s bedroom, she saw Wynonna’s boots pause by the door before continuing to walk down the hall to her bedroom. The redhead had been sat on her girlfriend’s bed, cuddling one of her old stuffed animals to her chest, for about three hours. Just laying there, staring out into space. She remembered when Waverly would recount to her about how she’d found Wynonna doing the same after Willa’s death.

She wished Waverly would come and find her now.

Cuddling the tiny stuffed tiger closer, Nicole’s eyes trailed around Waverly’s dimly lit bedroom. They rested on her dresser, which had two little paper-mâché wings propped against the wall. A tiny, short smile pulled across Nicole’s features as she looked at them. She remembered painting them with Waverly, and how the brunette had lectured her to put her name on one while she put her own name on the other so they could each have one. Nicole had gone home that evening and had forgotten to take her own angel wing with her. She wished she had remembered. The teary redhead stared at the left wing’s elegantly slanted ‘W’ as she hugged the tiger closer.

Nicole had never missed Waverly before, not this much anyway. Of course, there was time at work when all she wanted was to just go for a coffee with Waverly or come home to her girlfriend waiting for her on the sofa with Calamity Jane on her lap, but this was different. This was an ache. The desire to be close to Waverly, to breath her in, to feel the warmth of her skin against hers and the ache knowing that she wasn’t there.

Nicole felt the tears returning to her already glassy eyes, her bones stiffening in their grief, and her ears numbing out to any other noise that might wish to attract her attention. She pulled the duvet over her head, sinking into the warmth of the mattress.

Nicole Haught did something she hadn’t done since she was a teenager. She cried herself to sleep.


	2. Sometimes I Wish That I Could Freeze The Picture

Day 1

Nicole woke up in the early hours of the next morning to loud crashes and swearing. Sitting up slowly, she could tell it was Wynonna although her motive was partially unclear. Realising she was still wearing what was left of her police uniform, Nicole padded across the room to Waverly’s closet. Over the two years they’d been together, Waverly had stolen a lot of Nicole’s clothes. So much so that every Christmas, all Nicole wanted was clothes. On this occasion, Nicole was glad that she left clothes at the homestead as she pulled out a maroon Purgatory PD hoodie and black sweatpants. Running a hand through her mussed hair, she sighed and exited the bedroom. Limping downstairs, the crashing and swearing got louder and louder. Nicole could make out the sounds of chairs breaking, but she was still far too sleepy to be completely bothered about it.

“Fuck you, motherfucker! You fucking asshole!” A muffled, very Wynonna-sounding shout came from seemingly outside. Another smash. “Fucking fuck!”

Frowning slightly, Nicole slipped on her boots and walked outside. Wynonna, complete with unicorn plaster across her nose, had stacked a bunch of plates on top of a log and was now taking turns to kick and throw them at the side of the barn. Nicole approached as Wynonna threw one plate at the barn with particular aggression and it shattered on impact. Turning around, she saw Nicole and removed the yellow headphones on her head. She offered out a plate.

“Want one?” She asked, the tone in her voice heavy and low.

“What are you doing?” Nicole raised an eyebrow.

Wynonna smirked half-heartedly. “Anger management.” She threw the plate, shattering it again loudly. Nicole flinched at the smash, but Wynonna ignored her and offered her another plate. “Waverly taught me to deal with my anger by throwing plates when I was a kid. Heh, I used to throw them for the dumbest reasons, like if we lost a sports game or if Waverly would keep pestering me about homework. Gus had to buy so many new plates.”

“In the two years I’ve known you, I’ve never seen you throw a plate at the barn before.” Nicole said sceptically.

Wynonna faltered, her smile falling slightly before being re-plastered onto her face. She smirked again, her eyes flashing dramatically. “You haven’t seen me this angry before.” Throwing back her arm, Wynonna aimed the plate at the middle of the barn and threw it again. “Now throw a plate, Haught.”

Nicole watched Wynonna throw two more plates before sighing. “I’m fine, thank you.”

Wynonna frowned and pressed the plate into Nicole’s chest so the redhead had to hold it. “Throw the goddamn plate, Red, we both know you need it.”

Nicole looked at the little plate in her hands for a few seconds. It was one of the usual that she was given whenever she stayed at the Earp homestead, blue with a grey swirl into the middle. With a sigh, she shook her head and handed Wynonna the plate. “I should get to work.”

“Nicole, you can’t go into a shutdown, you know!” Wynonna called to her as the redhead started walking towards the homestead again. “It won’t help solve anything.”

Nicole ignored her as she disappeared inside the homestead. She didn’t want to listen to Wynonna right now. But that wasn’t about to stop the Earp air.

“Red, wait!” She shouted, this time more hostile. Having two working legs, Wynonna caught up with Nicole easily and held her in place at the doorway of the homestead. Nicole pulled her hand out of her grip and continued to limp inwards. “Will you just wait?”

“Keep throwing your plates, Wynonna.” Nicole sighed, opening up the cupboard and getting out a mug. “I just want to be left alone.”

“Well tough shit, because I live here.” Wynonna scowled, folding her arms. As she watched Nicole shuffle around the kitchen to make herself a coffee, Wynonna’s expression softened. Seeing her friend in more than physical pain wasn’t worth being angry at. “Look, just sit down. I need to re-dress your leg.”

With obvious reluctance, Nicole sat down and let Wynonna retrieve the first aid kit again. Remembering how she had patched Waverly up after she’d been shot, Wynonna gulped as she crouched down in front of Nicole and shifted her sweatpant leg up past her knee. Realising she wouldn’t be able to get it high enough to reveal Nicole’s wound, Wynonna looked up at her friend awkwardly.

“I’m afraid you’re gonna have to-“

Nicole rolled her eyes, sighed, and dragged herself upwards. She pulled down her sweatpants, Wynonna avoiding eye contact, and then sat down again with a groan of pain. Resting her chin on her hand with a propped elbow, Nicole looked out the window miserably. Wynonna swallowed and set about cutting off Nicole’s bandage.

“What are you planning on doing today?” Wynonna asked after a few moments.

Nicole took a sip of her coffee and sighed again. “I don’t know.”

Wynonna rolled her eyes and continued to tend to the cop’s leg. “I didn’t think the tables would be turned like this, you know. Never took you for the moody type.”

Nicole pursed her lips.

Wynonna tilted her head to the side, keeping her eyes focused softly on Nicole’s cut. “I thought it would be me, shutting everyone out, being an asshole.” She reapplied a new bandage, earning a small hiss from the redhead. “We’ll get Waverly back.”

Nicole took another sip of her coffee, seeming to drink it to finish it, before sniffing. Her nose felt cracked and dry from her evening of sobbing into a pillow. “Yeah?” Her voice was cold, and unwelcoming. “How are you planning on doing that, Wynonna?”

“I haven’t figured it out yet. We should go to Black Badge later, see if we have any notes on the garden. Waves must’ve made some notes.” Wynonna offered knowingly.

“Another thing she probably didn’t tell me.” Nicole replied sourly.

Wynonna fixed Nicole’s new bandage and looked up at her friend. She glanced at the ring on Nicole’s left hand. “You know she only wanted to keep you safe.”

Nicole scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Keep me safe? _She_ was the one who needed protecting, against all of this shit.” She threw her hands in the air unhappily. “God, how many bodies do we need to bury before I learn the truth?”

Wynonna’s eyes dropped, her optimism fading slightly. She stood up, pulling Nicole’s sweatpants up to her thighs and then set the first aid kit up on the table. Trying to haul the weight that was building on her chest, Wynonna pulled on her leather jacket and stood in the doorway. “We’ll save Waverly, Nicole. You might not believe in her or me, but we’ll get her back. Just you watch.”

Without another word, Wynonna opened the door and walked out into the cold snow. Nicole heard her truck driving away. What felt like years later, she managed to finish her almost stale coffee before padding slowly up the stairs and curling back up in bed. Cuddling Waverly’s little tiger close to her chest again, Nicole disappeared under the duvet.

+

Luckily for Wynonna, Jeremy had a coffee and donuts waiting for her when she arrived the Purgatory Police Department. Wearing a baseball cap over a ponytail, everyone gave Wynonna a pretty wide berth. As she walked past Nicole’s empty desk, Nedley tipped his hat to her from his desk and Wynonna returned the gesture.

Arriving in the Black Badge office was harder than it ever had been before. When Dolls had passed away, Jeremy had been the only one to go in and out of the office and that had only been to collect Dolls’ few personal belongings. For Wynonna, walking in and not having those two familiar faces looking back at her grumpily for her constant lateness, felt like she was being crushed by the weight of the world.

Jeremy looked up from his desk as Wynonna entered and offered a smile, albeit a forced one. Wynonna returned the same sad smile, and sighed as she flopped into an armchair. Setting the donut box aside, Jeremy indicated to the whiteboard with his pen.

“Is Nicole coming?”

Wynonna shook her head. “She’s, uh, takin’ some time.” She replied, earning a solemn nod from the scientist. After a moment’s silence, Wynonna slapped her hands on her knees and put her coffee down. “Right, we haven’t got time to be all sad, we need to find a way to get Doc and Waverly back.”

Jeremy mirrored her actions, standing up with matched eagerness. “Right!” He delved into a bunch of boxes before pulling on out, marked ‘Eden’. “So, before Waverly… **went** , she made this.”

He set the box down on one of the metal tables with a loud thump, earning a low chuckle from Wynonna. “Trust her to make a goddamn dissertation about it.” She laughed a little harder as she fished out one document the size of a dictionary. “Shit on a stick, Waves!”

Jeremy smiled as he took the folder from Wynonna. “To be fair, she did do a lot of research between Christmas and New Year’s.” He remarked. “Biblical references should be in that folder there.”

Wynonna nodded and pulled out the folder marked ‘tHe hOLy biBLe’ in which was Nicole’s handwriting as it had a scolding red pen beneath it ‘Nicole!’ in which was definitely Waverly’s neater handwriting. As she handed it over to Jeremy, a piece of paper slipped from the folder and fell to the floor.

Wynonna bent down and picked it up, and upon its touch, realised that it was a printed photo. Turning it over in her hands, Wynonna studied the photo. It was blurry, but it was obvious who it was. Waverly was in the centre of the shot, a small cupcake in the corner and big dollop of yellow frosting on her nose. A big smile was plastered all over her face, Wynonna couldn’t remember her little sister looking so happy since they were little. She made a mental note to give it to Nicole later on that evening. Shoving the photo into her back pocket, Wynonna pulled out another folder.

“Right, let’s get to work.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a short one, sorry!
> 
> Have you seen Kat's short film?


	3. One Of Us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Wynonna and Nicole make a gruesome discovery at Shorty's, tensions begin to boil over.

**Day 1**

Wynonna worried about Waverly all day, and Nicole even more. She knew she wouldn’t be able to save Waverly if Nicole didn’t believe in her. In her mind, Nicole had already given up. Waverly was dead, in her eyes. Wynonna wasn’t going to let her shut down, but she already knew she was too late.

Trying to push thoughts of her troubled friend to the back of her head, Wynonna continued to rifle through all of Waverly and Dolls’ documents and folders. She had found exactly nothing, as had neither Waverly nor Dolls either. The Eden folder was full of possible theories, all in different religions, but nothing about actually getting out of the garden of Eden. Jeremy had been out for the past half an hour, apparently to go and get more coffee. Wynonna hadn’t even noticed that he hadn’t returned until she took a lunch break.

Frowning, she stood up and called Jeremy on the phone. There was no answer. She tried Robin, and there was no answer again. Figuring they were probably just….canoodling…Wynonna picked up the phone one more time and called Nicole. It rang four times before the phone was finally picked up.

“What do you want, Wynonna?” Nicole’s voice sounded hoarse and exhausted, like she’d been crying again.

“Do you want lunch?” Wynonna asked, making sure her voice was void of kindness. She wasn’t going to tiptoe around Nicole.

There was silence for a few seconds before a quiet mumble answered again. “Yes please.”

“I’ll meet you at Shorty’s.” Wynonna replied. “See you in ten.”

Wynonna walked to Shorty’s in what felt like a ghost town. Only two days had passed since Nicole had evacuated the town to the big city, and not many had returned since. Spare trucks lay abandoned in the road, some left by residents, others by dead revenants. Much as she disliked Purgatory, seeing it stand silent made Wynonna feel empty inside. Had there been any tumbleweeds in Purgatory, one would’ve floated past by now, Wynonna reckoned.

When she reached the bar, Nicole was limping around the corner, driving Waverly’s red Jeep. The car trundled to a stop a few feet away, and Wynonna waited as she got out. She’d gotten changed back into her sweats and tank top, but now wore a hoodie over the top, bearing the Purgatory High crest. It was Waverly’s. Wynonna remembered how she’d asked for it to be over-sized so she could wear it in the winter. As she approached, Wynonna noticed how her eyes were reddened and her hair was sticking up all over the place as usual. 

“Come on Haught, let’s get a coffee. You look like you need it.” She offered.

Nicole just nodded silently and followed Wynonna the last few feet to the entrance of the bar. Since it’d been temporarily abandoned, Jeremy and Robin had been living in Waverly’s former apartment. It would be understandable why Jeremy had been late with coffee. Wynonna stepped into Shorty’s.

“Holy shit!” She exclaimed, and with good reason to.

The booths had been slashed open, stools broken and some of the taps smashed to glass. The pool table stood on only two legs, and the balls were lying all over the floor. Beer had soaked the bar and the Wyatt Earp sign had been snapped in half again. Nicole walked in behind her, and nearly matched Wynonna’s dumbfounded expression. Instead of saying anything, she walked forward and reached across the bar.

Waverly’s tap was untouched.

She breathed a short sigh of relief before she felt Wynonna’s hand pull her back and then she saw it. There, etched into the bar, was a name seemingly scratched by a giant animal.

**_Valdez._ **

Wynonna traced her finger through the slashed carving. “What’s a valdez?”

Nicole stepped forward, frowning at the damage surrounding the bar. “Never mind that, where’s Jeremy?” 

Wynonna lifted her head and looked around, seeing that her friend was nowhere to be found. She fished it out, but it was dead. With a frustrated sighed, Wynonna clicked at Nicole. “Pass me your phone.”

Nicole did it without question. Wynonna scrolled through the contacts, noticing that Waverly’s name had been contacted at least twenty times in the past two days. None of them had been answered. Wynonna glanced at Nicole, who ignored her as she called Jeremy’s number and put it on speaker.

The loud shrill of Britney Spears bounced off the walls of Shorty’s as Nicole found the ringing phone just behind the broken pool table. With a grunt of pain to crouch down, Nicole picked it up. The screen was shattered, but still lit up with Wynonna’s name across the top. Nicole looked at the phone worriedly.

“There’s blood on it.” She said quietly.

Wynonna hopped over a broken stool and crouched down next to Nicole. Blood had spattered the top left corner of the phone, there was some more on the floor where Nicole had picked it up. Wynonna scanned the surroundings quickly, her eyes sharp and alert.

“There.” She pointed. On the corner of the pool table was a small pool of blood. Not enough that it would cause death, but still enough for a heavy injury. Wynonna peered at it closely, keeping her alarm hidden. She snapped her fingers at Nicole. “Call Robin.”

Nicole used her phone and rang the ranger, but again, the loud tones of Beyonce rang out across the bar. Wynonna found the phone behind the bar taps, along with Robin’s ranger jacket. It was ripped, and had blood on it.

Nicole pursed her lips and sighed. “We should call Nedley.”

Wynonna held up her hand. “Not yet.” She put Robin’s jacket on the bar and pointed to the smashed taps. “He was thrown over the bar.”

Nicole nodded. “Our attacker is strong.” Although her leg was throbbing, her head hurt and her eyes felt dry, Nicole let her inner cop take control of the situation. “Robin and Jer put up a fight.”

Wynonna walked around the bar, slowly, thinking to herself. She was enjoying that Nicole was cooperating a little more, but she could see the icy hatred in her eyes, and felt guilty. Pushing those thoughts into the back of her head, Wynonna gestured to the name scratched into the bar.

“We need to find out more about this ‘Valdez’.”

“The name rings a bell.” Nicole added, frowning at the name.

Wynonna watched Nicole for a few seconds, trying to decipher what the redhead was feeling to the name. It wasn’t pain, but it wasn’t quite anger. There was something negative there, definitely, but Wynonna couldn’t put her finger on it.

She put her hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Let’s call Nedley and then we can go over the files again. Looks like our rescue mission went from two to four. I’ll drive.”

“I have the Jeep.” Nicole replied, her tone void of any emotion.

“You also have your leg hanging off.” Wynonna gestured to Nicole’s leg. “And I saw you limping around the corner so you’re gonna sit in the passenger seat, Haught.”

Wynonna turned and left to go and start up the jeep. Nicole looked around the destroyed bar one more time, making sure she hadn’t missed anything. Satisfied, the redhead turned towards the door. “I didn’t think my bossy nature would rub off on you.” She muttered, forgetting that Wynonna wasn’t outside.

As she reached the door, Nicole remembered Robin’s jacket and dragged her leg with her to retrieve it. As she picked it up, she glanced at Waverly’s tap again. Reaching over the bar, she touched it softly, remembering how she’d first laid eyes on the Earp girl in her soaked shirt.

Wynonna appeared in the doorway again. “Nicole?” She called quietly, as though not to startle her friend.

Nicole ignored her, squeezing her eyes shut as she touched the place on the counter of where their hands had touched after Shorty had died. She remembered how Waverly’s hand had reached for hers, and fallen just short. Nicole let out a short, shaky breath and then turned around.

“Yeah, coming.” She murmured, limping back up the steps and let Wynonna help her into the Jeep.

They rode back in silence.

+

Wynonna left to go back to Shorty’s with Nedley once they got back to the police department, leaving Nicole to sit and rifle through files. She had a better eye for words anyway, and picked up more of the languages Waverly tried to teach them. Being on her own again for the second time that day, Nicole relaxed into her mood of silence and only thinking of Waverly.

The mug that sat on her desk was orange, with a white H on it. The others had one too. Jeremy had green and yellow, Robin had yellow and black, Wynonna dark blue and white and Waverly had purple and pink. Doc just had grey and black. Dolls had got them on the Christmas that he’d died. Wynonna had found them under his desk two weeks after the whole cliff incident. Nicole stared at it, hating it. Just another dead gift from another dead friend. She wanted nothing more than to throw it across the room and scream. Scream for everything, for everyone. It was like being trapped in a prison where nobody could hear you.

Instead, Nicole drank her coffee with silent rage.

She had files on her desk and on her lap, but reading through them was taking forever. Nicole was so bored that she’d started flipping through Dolls’ BBD files – at least the ones that Wynonna had hidden from the BBD. Some faces she recognised as she flicked through their files: Agent G. Lucado, _deceased_ , Agent J. Lucado _, deceased_ , Agent E. Shapiro, _deceased_ , Agent R. Quinn, _terminated._ The list went on. Nicole figured it was Waverly who kept the tabs on the agents, because it certainly wasn’t Dolls. Out of absent bother, she looked at their deaths. _Shot, terminated, shot, executed, bitten, poisoned_.

Nicole shook her head. She’d take the files home and read them properly there. If she went back to the homestead, she might just never leave. She wracked her brain for things to do. Going back home seemed so easy, perhaps she could curl up on the sofa with Calamity Jane. Or she could go for a walk, had it not been for her leg.

Nicole sighed. Everything felt and was useless. She pulled herself up, dragging her leg with her and gathered the files up. As she did, one dropped out and onto the floor. Organising the others into a neat pile beside her mug, Nicole bent down and picked it up with a pained groan. She really should take a second look at her leg. On the front of the file was her name, marked underneath with ‘Special Agent’. A tiny smile flittered across her features. Special Agent Nicole Haught, that had a nice ring to it. She opened it, and even a small laugh escaped her dry lips. There, next to her filed photo, was Waverly’s handwriting in one of her pink glitter pens. A big, bright pink arrow pointed to Nicole’s stern face.

_‘Best Agent Ever!’_

Nicole rolled her eyes. Waverly was always doing that for Nicole’s pictures. Usually she was in all of them too. Waverly was always with Nicole. Be it in the shower, in the kitchen, at work, or even on the side of a cliff: Waverly was always with her.

And Nicole couldn’t take the fact she wasn’t with her any longer.

Waverly hadn’t even been gone for two days.

+

Wynonna returned to the police station about three hours after she’d left, having finished configuring a plan with Nedley and clearing up Shorty’s. Doc was going to pissed to see his bar half missing and his pool table barely standing when he got back.

As she got through the door, Wynonna noticed that Waverly’s Jeep was gone so she assumed Nicole had gone back to the homestead. Seeing the files that she’d dug out for the redhead on her desk, Wynonna frowned. Nicole had said she was going to figure out if she could find who Valdez was. Remembering that her phone was dead, Wynonna grew worried. If Nicole was Valdez’ latest victim, then they were all fucked.

She wasted no time in slamming the accelerator to her truck and driving far past the speed limit back to the homestead. Screeching to a halt, Wynonna practically leapt out of the truck. With a sigh of relief, Waverly’s Jeep was in the driveway.

“Nicole?” She yelled, her mind begging for her friend to appear. “Haught?”

Walking around the front of the homestead, Wynonna could see the Jeep had a suitcase in it; clothes, framed photos, old hoodies. Wynonna frowned, these were Nicole’s things. Why were they in the truck? But that wasn’t what was worrying her. Beside the truck’s broken exhaust pipe, were spots of blood.

_“Shit.”_

Worry building up in her stomach, Wynonna followed the small blood trail that seemed to go all over the homestead before finally ending at the barn doors. Her fingers ghosted over the door, stood open by only ajar, pondering whether to go in or not. She could hear laboured breathing on the other side of the door, Nicole must only be a few feet within the barn. Wynonna opened the door slowly and silently, being careful not to trip as she got in.

“Nicole?” She called out quietly.

When there was a pained groan in reply, Wynonna’s mind thought back to finding Nicole in the barn only a few days before with a shot graze to her ribs, gasping for help. She only had to walk a few feet to find Nicole had propped herself into the exact same position she had been in before, her hands clasped around her leg. Her hands were covered in blood.

“What the fuck happened?” Wynonna asked as she crouched down beside Nicole. The redhead was pale, sweating profusely that it beaded on her forehead and made her hair damp. Her skin was grey, and where it wasn’t grey it was blue. “God, how long have you been out here?”

Nicole let out a shaky breath as Wynonna pushed her hands away. Nicole’s cut had opened, and soaked the bandage which lay on the floor beside her. A small piece of metal was protruding through her sweatpants, about the length of Wynonna’s little finger.

“Jesus Christ, what is this?” Wynonna gasped as she delicately pried the ripped material apart to see the metal was sticking into Nicole’s previous wound, and covering her leg with blood. “Nicole, what the fuck happened?”

Nicole cried out in pain as she moved her leg an inch. She cried even louder when Wynonna held her leg in place roughly, pinning it down at the ankle.

 _“What the fuck happened?”_ She spat furiously.

“….tripped.” Nicole managed weakly.

Wynonna let go of the injured leg roughly. “Bullshit.” She seethed through her teeth. “You’re fucking 5’11, what fucking giraffe trips over?”

When Wynonna saw tears begin to form in Nicole’s eyes, she softened. Her friend was a mess, lying amongst dirty straw with a bleeding leg and damp face. Slowly, she pulled Nicole’s phone from her pocket. Ignoring the lack of password and Waverly smiling home screen, Wynonna went to the contacts. Helping Nicole to lay her head on an old bale of straw, Wynonna propped her friend up a little and placed the phone by her head.

“Here, listen to this while I go and get the first aid kit.” She murmured.

As she got up, Wynonna pressed a button on the contact list, and walked out. The tears in Nicole’s eyes began dribbling down her cheeks immediately as she heard Waverly’s voice ring through the phone and into her ears. She’d heard the same words over and over and over again throughout the past day, and hearing them during her moments of pure agony made her heart wrench even worse.

_“Hi this is Waverly! I’m busy right now, so please leave a message!”_

Nicole let out a rugged sob as the voice ended, wanting to only hear it again. Again, and again and again. Wynonna was back in a flash and putting her voice on again, recording it so that it just looped for her.

Crouching at her feet, Wynonna started to quietly work on Nicole’s leg. When it came to removing the metal, Wynonna reached up and squeezed Nicole’s hand briefly.

“You’re going to want to listen to her while I do this.” She said quietly as she placed her finger on top of the metal.

Nicole nodded, staring up at the creaking beams above her head and hissing through her teeth as Wynonna put her grip on the stuck metal. Luckily for both of them, it wasn’t stuck in deep enough to do any damage to anything important. That didn’t stop it hurting. Nicole gasped as Wynonna grunted to pull out the metal. A small squirt of blood got on Wynonna’s plaster, but the brunette shrugged it off and started to apply a new bandage.

Nicole shut her eyes, and paced her laboured breathing to relax again. “I scratched my leg on the exhaust pipe.” She finally managed. “That’s why it’s broken.”

Wynonna didn’t reply, only focusing on her leg for the time being. Once her work was finished, she exhaled deeply and sat back on her haunches, resting her hands on her knees. “Look, Red, you can’t bail out on this. Making your leg worse isn’t going to bring Waverly back.”

“I didn’t do it on purpose.” Nicole spat.

“What? It lodged in your leg when you were trying to make a break for it? Did you slip when you were loading three suitcases into the back of the Jeep?” Wynonna taunted as she stood up. “Since when were you such a _pussy_ , Haught? Eh? Nicole Haught, who survived a massacre. Nicole Haught, who gotten bitten by a demon spider. Nicole Haught who nearly became ginger mush on the side of a cliff. Where’s that girl? Huh?”

“She’s gone, Wynonna, gone! Just like Dolls, just like Doc, just like Lonnie, just like Charlie, probably just like Robin and Charlie too. She’s gone, Wynonna, and there’s no getting her back!” Nicole screamed, tears running down her now pink cheeks as she tried to stand. “I don’t want to be here anymore.”

“You’re really going to give up after one day? She’s been gone for twenty-four hours, and you’re already leaving!” Wynonna snarled with such venom her spit might as well have been poison. Nicole finally managed to stand, and Wynonna stepped forward, only inches away from her face. “You’re a fucking coward, Nicole. You don’t deserve Waverly.”

Nicole tightened her jaw, looking down at Wynonna with a stare that could freeze water. Wynonna glared right back, fire dancing in her eyes. Another tear trickled down Nicole’s cheek, following the same track its predecessor had.

“You know, you can be real mean sometimes.”

Without another word, Nicole pushed past Wynonna and walked out of the barn. Wynonna continued staring straight ahead, her fists clenched with anger. She didn’t move long after she’d heard the Jeep start up and drive out of the homestead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi hello readers, update.
> 
> So I've finally figured out the plotline for this so no empty shit! Updates should hopefully be at least once a week (?) because i'm really busy with filmmaking!


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